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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Toronto's eyeswithoutaface walk closely in the footsteps of the dearly departed Red Harvest; black, death, doom, and power electronics are all blended together into a noisy hate smoothie that'll give NIN fans nightmares. Their new album Warguts is the heaviest thing to get tagged "industrial" that I've heard in a long time. All their releases (including their amazing debut Monotoneoteny) are available either as free or Pay What You Want downloads.

I never checked Latitudes out before, probably because on paper their shoegazey post-metal sounds derivative and uninteresting. But Individuation is surprisingly awesome. Trippy, heavy, and blackened at the edges, it's like Deftones and Pelican hiking through the woods with Deafheaven as their guide. Not free, but downloadable for a respectable $7.

"Lithuanian Death Metal" is a thing, and on Inheritage's debut EP Morbid Grace of Death, it's a very good thing. I'm immediately reminded of bands that blasted out of neighbouring Poland in the late 90's (Decapitated, Yattering). The riffs are sharp, the drums are programmed (but not obviously so), and the vocals are guttural. Four songs (and an extremely discomfiting Happiness sample) are available as a free download, and well worth your time.

I have a feeling I'd get along with the dudes in Within the Fall; we seem to share the opinion that the only thing wrong with Brave Murder Day is that there's only one of it. Anyone lamenting Katatonia's shamble towards more commercial pastures is better off getting Through the Shadows instead. This four track EP is available as a PWYW download.